It said the flag, featuring South Korea's national flower mugunghwa at the center and two phoenixes facing each other, will be lowered at the Yongsan presidential office at midnight on Dec. 29 and simultaneously raised at Cheong Wa Dae.
"The official name of the presidential office will be changed to Cheong Wa Dae starting on Dec. 29," the office said.
The flag is flown at the location where the president is working or residing to indicate the seat of executive authority.
President Lee Jae Myung is expected to begin duties at Cheong Wa Dae, marking the reopening of the "Cheong Wa Dae era" about 44 months after former president Yoon Suk Yeol relocated the presidential office in May 2022.
The site ceased to function as the presidential office after Yoon moved operations to Yongsan, citing a desire to break away from what it described as the image of a secluded power center.
However, following Yoon's impeachment after his declaration of martial law on Dec. 3, 2024, the Lee administration moved forward with restoring Cheong Wa Dae, fulfilling one of Lee's campaign pledges. The decision was also based on concerns that the Yongsan office was structurally vulnerable to surveillance and security risks.
While the presidential office will return to Cheong Wa Dae, the official residence there is scheduled to undergo repairs through the first half of next year, as it is still severely damaged. Lee is expected to commute from the existing Hannam-dong residence to Cheong Wa Dae for the time being.
The history of Cheong Wa Dae dates back to the Japanese colonial period. Built in 1927 as the residence of the Japanese Governor-General of Korea, it later served as the residence of Lt. Gen. John R. Hodge, head of the U.S. Army Military Government in Korea, following the country's liberation in 1945.
With the founding of the First Republic in 1948, the site became President Rhee Syngman's office and residence under the name "Gyeongmudae." In 1960, then-president Yun Posun renamed it Cheong Wa Dae, inspired by the blue tiles of the main building, as "cheong" means blue in Korean.
Cheong Wa Dae served as the office and residence of South Korean presidents from Park Chung-hee through Moon Jae-in until 2022.
Copyright ⓒ Aju Press All rights reserved.